Five women who helped Arthur Mitchell prove that classical ballet could belong to Black dancers are getting their own spotlight this week, as a special tribute production comes to Manhattan's Theater at the 14th Street Y. The three performances, running October 16 through October 18, will honor the pioneering ballerinas whose careers helped turn Mitchell's vision for Dance Theatre of Harlem into reality.
Clark Center NYC and From the Horse's Mouth are presenting the tribute, titled “From the Horse's Mouth: The Swans of Harlem,” according to iloveny.com. The production honors five pioneering Black ballerinas tied to the formative years of Dance Theatre of Harlem, the outlet reports, and the cast will include four of the surviving dancers: Marcia Sells, Sheila Rohan, Karlya Shelton-Benjamin and Lydia Abarca Mitchell. Gayle McKinney-Griffith, who has since died, will be honored in memory.
Sheila Rohan, one of the pioneering ballerinas, joined NY1 to discuss the production, which the station reports will bring this history to life at the Manhattan venue this week. The From the Horse's Mouth format blends storytelling, dance and archival material to tell dancers' personal stories, per an account from BroadwayWorld.
A Company Born to Break Barriers
Arthur Mitchell founded Dance Theatre of Harlem more than 50 years before this week's performances, according to NY1, with the explicit mission of breaking racial barriers in classical ballet. The company has since performed on stages around the world and is regarded as an internationally acclaimed ballet company, the station notes. Historical records from Dance Theatre of Harlem place the founding in 1969, when Mitchell and Karel Shook started the company at the height of the civil rights movement.
The company became a pioneer in the dance world, integrating stages and spreading ballet through outreach programs at home and abroad, according to the same history. The five ballerinas being honored this week were founding and first-generation dancers who helped start the company in the 1960s and '70s, as reported by KUT. BroadwayWorld notes that the Swans challenged longstanding barriers in classical ballet and claimed space on some of the world's most prestigious stages, helping expand possibilities for generations of Black dancers who followed.
From Page to Stage
Their story is told in Karen Valby’s book, “The Swans of Harlem,” which NY1 describes as telling the story of these pioneering ballerinas. The book was named one of the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2024, according to the paper's own review. Valby will return to moderate a free conversation with the four surviving Swans on October 14 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y, alongside a free master class, according to the Clark Center NYC events listing.
Tickets for the three October 16-18 stage performances are priced at $25 for general admission and $20 for seniors and students, per iloveny.com's listing of the event. The performances take place at the Theater at the 14th Street Y in New York, giving audiences a rare chance to hear the Swans' stories directly from the women who lived them.
